Samsung Said to Near EU Antitrust Settlement on Patents

By Aoife White -
Dec 12, 2013

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s offer to
settle a European Union antitrust investigation over key patents
requires only minor changes to win approval from regulators,
according to two people familiar with the case.

The EU will tell Samsung this month that rivals and other
interested parties gave mostly positive feedback in a review of
its pledge to stop seeking injunctions in Europe in disputes
with competitors over patents required for products that comply
with global technology standards, said the people, who asked not
to be named because the process is confidential.

Samsung, which has clashed with Apple Inc. over patents,
may have to address concerns over how it will handle disputes
over the technology, one of the people said. A settlement would
end a probe that’s lasted nearly two years and would also avoid
possible fines for the world’s biggest smartphone maker.

The EU is cracking down on possible patent abuses as Google
Inc. (GOOG)’s Motorola Mobility (MMI) unit, Microsoft Corp., Apple and
Samsung trade victories in divergent court rulings across the
world on intellectual property. The EU’s antitrust chief Joaquin
Almunia has said he’s targeting the “rules of the game” to
prevent companies from unfairly leveraging their inventions to
thwart rivals.

The Samsung case is “the first of these cases we will
probably decide,” Almunia told reporters on Dec. 9. He said the
EU will discuss “possible improvements” to the company’s offer
in the coming weeks and that he hoped for a final decision soon.

Rhee So-eui, a spokeswoman for the company, declined to
comment.

Smartphones, Tablets

The Suwon, South Korea-based company promised in October
that it wouldn’t seek injunctions to block sales of smartphones
and tablets using patents that are part of a technology standard
for five years against companies willing to seek fair licensing
terms. After Samsung’s rivals and customers agree that the
company’s offer allays antitrust concerns, regulators can make
the offer binding on Samsung and end the EU probe as well as any
threat of a fine.

The EU opened an investigation into Samsung in January 2012
on injunctions it took in 2011 to block sales of Apple products
using Samsung’s third-generation mobile-phone technology
patents. Regulators say Apple was willing to license the patents
on fair terms and Samsung’s injunctions violated competition
rules.